The Daily Mall Reader: Garden State Plaza, A Potemkin Mall

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Welcome to the Potemkin Mall"

The New York Times - December 20, 2005

(Excerpt) PARAMUS, N.J. - At the Garden State Plaza, a sprawling marble and skylight-filled shopping center just outside Manhattan, discriminating consumers can find a $400 fur-trimmed handbag at Coach, a $60 pair of distressed jeans at American Eagle Outfitters and a $25 make-your-own giraffe at Build-a-Bear.

And, if they look closely enough, they can also find dozens of retail analysts, hedge fund managers and institutional investors, their telltale briefcases and BlackBerries in hand, as they rummage through clothing racks to calculate markdowns, count shoppers to gauge a chain's popularity and quiz managers about sales.

Read the full article here.

Garden State Plaza (aka Westfield Garden State Plaza)

Paramus, New Jersey - August 26, 1970

Interesting historical photo snapped during the "Women’s March for Equality" at the Garden State Plaza mall (aka Westfield Garden State Plaza) in the summer of 1970. Uppity women unite! If you're interested you can read more about the event over at the page I found this photo on.

Groovy chicks, groovy fashions (check that dude's Bermuda shorts), and a cute little baby in a groovy stroller, what's not to love? Best of all, they're standing in front of an early-seventies Garden State Plaza, which, even though we can't see much of it, is really my main point here.

Mall history: 1957 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2, 3

(Study image courtesy & ©2002 The Women's Project of New Jersey, Inc.)

Paramus Park Mall Turkey Statue

Paramus, New Jersey - circa 1970s

In my Paramus Park Mall entry of a few days ago, mention was made (via Wiki info) of a large metal turkey statue that sat in one of the mall's courtyards:

"Two small courtyards are at the other leg intersections; one now hosts a carousel, the other the bronze statue of a turkey described below.

The name Paramus comes from the Lenni Lenape Native American word meaning 'land of the wild turkey' or 'place of fertile soil'. That is why there is a giant metal statue of a turkey in the Paramus Park mall."

Thanks (once again) to Charles Freericks, who supplied the photo of the mall for the last post, we now have the above vintage-era shot of the Paramus Park Mall wild turkey statue! It's apparently still there today, btw, albeit now demoted to a more low-key location in the food court on the mall's upper level.

To the left is a recent picture of it (2006) I found on Photobucket. Gives a little more perspective on its size, and you can also see a plaque on the display which explains the piece and names its artist (Christopher Parke, I believe).

Mall history: 1974 - present
Current website: here
Developer: The Rouse Company
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1

Paramus Park Mall & Sears

Paramus, New Jersey - circa mid '70s

Mid-seventies snapshot of Paramus Park mall in Paramus, NJ, taken from the parking lot (the Sears anchor store is visible to the right). Many thanks to Charles Freericks, for this great photo submission!

My buddies over at Labelscar have a nice entry on the mall as it looks today, if you're curious about that, and below you'll find some Paramus Park mall history from Wikipedia:

"The mall, developed by The Rouse Company, opened on March 14, 1974, with a 300,000 sq. ft. Abraham & Straus (now a Macy's store) and Sears (which didn't open until August) as anchors and space for 120 specialty stores.

Paramus Park was the fourth, and final major indoor (or in the case of Garden State Plaza, soon to be indoor) mall in Paramus. It is shaped as a four-legged zigzag, with an anchor store at each end and the second-level food court on a large balcony in the middle. Two small courtyards are at the other leg intersections; one now hosts a carousel, the other the bronze statue of a turkey described below.

The name Paramus comes from the Lenni Lenape Native American word meaning 'land of the wild turkey' or 'place of fertile soil'. That is why there is a giant metal statue of a turkey in the Paramus Park mall."

Mall history: 1974 - present
Current website: here
Developer: The Rouse Company
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: none

Garden State Plaza Mall in the Sixties

Paramus, New Jersey - circa 1960s

Garden State Plaza, from back in the early days when it was still an open-air shopping mall. Some stores visible in the photo are: Gimbels, Lorrys, and, though in shadow and hard to see, Arcadian Gardens (to the right), which was a restaurant, I believe.

Garden State Plaza is now an enclosed Westfield-owned shopping mall. But once, a long time ago, it looked cool like this.

Mall history: 1957 - present
Developer: R.H. Macy & Co.
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: 1, 2